GAA: Donnellan drive puts Galway on pole again; WICKLOW 1-9 GALWAY 3-

DUNMORE dynamo Michael Donnellan emerged as Galway's hero in their second round All-Ireland football qualifier at Aughrim.

He was at the heart of most of Galway's best play as they swept the home team aside with relative ease.

It was always going to be difficult for Division Two Wicklow to cope with a top notch Galway team who are well fancied for All- Ireland honours.

Even so, the chance of this back-road route could not have come at a better time for them.

Having lost to Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final four weeks ago Galway were extremely worried about yesterday's test.

Manager John Mahony was delighted with his team's performance.

"We knew that Wicklow would give it a right shot. They had nothing to lose and are also a better team than people have been giving them credit for.

"It was important for us to get our own game right and we did that although there were some aspects which we will have to improve on," he said. He was referring to some shaky moments in front of goal when Galway lived dangerously and would have been punished had the Wicklow attack been a little bit more powerful.

As it was the Galway defence were given time to recover on several occasions, a luxury they will not enjoy against better teams.

Galway, backed by the strong wind, had 1-7 on the board before Wicklow registered their first score in the 20th minute.

With Donnellan controlling midfield the Galway attack had loads of good opportunities and Padraig Joyce, Jarlath Fallon and Alan Kerins picked off some fine scores.

Kerins' goal in the 20th minute was beautifully taken after a long ball split the Wicklow defence.

By half-time it was 1-9 to 0-3 for Galway and while Wicklow worked hard early in the second half to cut the deficit they were always chasing a lost cause.

Kieran Comer got in for Galway's second goal in the 47th minute to put his side 10 points ahead.

Wicklow rallied and a stunning goal by their best forward, Tommy Gill, gave their fans brief hope.

However, they wasted several good chances and Galway struck for the clinching goal in injury time when Tommy Joyce finished off a smart move.

It was all very comfortable for Galway and while they won't be happy with some of their defensive lapses their attack more than compensated.

In between, the outstanding Donnellan dominated affairs with impressive authority.

His fielding, passing and general support play proved all too much for Wicklow.

They worked hard to contain him but simply couldn't match his wide array of skills which left Galway fans in the crowd of 6,500 heading home happy.

Mahony said that he was delighted with Galway's three goals. "We didn't get the goals against Roscommon and it cost us but thankfully we finished them well today," he said. "It's now back to the drawing board for the next round but hopefully we have got the Connacht defeat out of our system.

Wicklow manager Moses Coffey said he was extremely proud of his team's effort.

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